AN ILKLEY chiropractor has been found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct by the General Chiropractic Council (GCC).

Dr John Rees, who works at Ilkley Chiropractic Clinic, Wilmot House, Railway Road, appeared before the Professional Conduct Committee of the Council at a hearing in London from November 6 to 8.

Dr Rees faced allegations in relation to a female patient, known as patient A, who was registered under the care of Mr Rees on various dates between May 20, 2016 and June 10, 2016 and June 11, 2016 and June 15, 2016.

A schedule of admissions to various allegations was made on behalf of Dr Rees. These included becoming ‘friends’ with patient A on Facebook and buying her gifts and spa treatments.

When patient A later made a complaint to the General Chiropractic Council Dr Rees admitted he knew a friend intended to contact her to discuss her complaint.

The committee found the admitted particulars proved, however, other, more serious allegations he had been facing, but had always denied, were dropped as there was no reliable evidence to support them.

Ms Harris for the GCC told the hearing that notwithstanding the concessions made by the GCC the registrant’s behaviour, even if well received by the patient, was inappropriate, an abuse of the patient-practitioner relationship and the sort of behaviour that brings the profession into disrepute.

Dr Rees was represented at the hearing by Mr Kitching who described the events of 2016 as “a professional disaster for the registrant, an embarrassment which he regretted on a personal and professional level.”

Mr Kitching submitted that physical contact with patient A had gone no further than drinks, a kiss, a hug and that the matters were at the lower end of the scale of breaches. He invited the committee to consider patient A had been a willing participant and was both intelligent and mature and could not be considered as vulnerable.

However, the committee determined that Dr Rees’s behaviour “embraced both a risk to the reputation of the profession and also the protection of patients.

The committee added: “Whilst much of the behaviour had been consensual the registrant had been in a position of power, he had planned the progression of the relationship and this amounted to serious acts on his behalf.”

The hearing concluded that Dr Rees’s conduct “fell seriously below the standards expected of a chiropractor and that, consequently, Dr Rees is guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.” In making a sanction against Dr Rees the committee noted a wide range of supportive testimonials and references and his previous good character. The committee was satisfied that the misconduct was not “fundamentally incompatible with continued registration”. It imposed the sanction of an admonishment - a formal warning - upon Dr Rees.

Following the hearing Dr Rees told the Gazette: “My professional body has considered all the pertinent facts and come to its decision. The matter is now closed. I would like to thank my patients for their generous support during this difficult period.”